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King's Quest IV -- A Technoligical Wonder
By Jerry Albright How many times have you booted up a game on your MS-DOS computer to hear a full stereo musical soundtrack bursting forth? The future of Sierra gaming promises that and much more as the most sophisticated computer adventure of all time gets ready to ship for your home computer. Beginning with King's Quest IV, Sierra introduces a new line of technologically superior interactive movies, complete with stereo soundtracks, fully animated cartoon sequences, and double the graphics resolution of previous Sierra adventures. King's Quest IV is not only Sierra's most anticipated adventure to date, but also its most exciting, with more technological advancements and features than any previous adventure game from Sierra. With over 3 million dollars in underlying technology, Sierra's 3-D Animated Adventure game system has earned raves around the world from both customers and software critics. King's Quest IV prepares its proprietary system for the 1990's with over $400,000 in technological improvements over it's predecessors. issue4_tech_wonder_pic1.jpg With over 11 man years in development and a team of over 13 programmers, developers and artists, King's Quest IV offers double the graphics resolution of our current adventure game line, interactivity that surpasses previous adventures, and a full 32-voice music capability that will simply astound you. Forty minutes of original music have been composed especially for King's Quest IV by William Goldstein, known for his previous work on the TV series Fame, the Touchstone Pictures film Hello Again, and the record album Switched-On Classics. This original soundtrack gives Sierra's interactive computer software a truly cinematic sound quality with it's support of IBM's eight-voice music card, the AdLib Music Synthesizer Card, and the Roland MT-32 music card (featuring a 32-voice synthesizer). issue4_tech_wonder_pic2.jpg Those who want to take advantage of the latest MS-DOS music cards don't have to wait forever to enjoy the future of computer sound on their computer, for King's Quest IV (and all Sierra adventure games to follow) will create an orchestra of sound output on your formerly one-voice PC (Tandy users excepted). What's more, the stereo-supported soundtrack brings the emotion of music to the game's storyline as never witnessed before. From the terrifying "Zombie's Night" to the joyful elation of "Cupid's Theme", players will experience the feelings of the character through the ever-changing musical moods throughout the game. The new technology behind King's Quest IV also provides for highly enhanced graphics, with double the resolution and detail of earlier games. Animation is better than ever, and the IBM-compatible version includes enhanced animation when run on a computer with a fast 80286 or 80386 microprocessor. It also supports the entire scope of IBM-compatible graphics modes, including CGA, EGA, MCGA and VGA. King's Quest IV also sets another computer software first by beginning with an animated cartoon (nearly ten minutes in length). The cartoon outlines the entire drama of King's Quest IV, and brings veteran players up-to-date with the ongoing saga of the King Graham clan. So boot up your computer, and prepare for an entertaining product that is not only creatively innovative, but technologically innovative as well. Category:Magazine articles